Breathtaking, the ending of this Nolan film is a real magic trick!

Spoilers – Warning, the article below contains potential spoilers. If you do not want to understand the content, please do not read the following…

Set in the mid-2000s, right between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, The Prestige is a film of distinction in Christopher Nolan’s career. Adapted from Christopher Priest’s novel and set in the late 19th century, it depicts the relentless battle waged throughout their careers by two iconic magicians: Robert Angier, played by Hugh Jackman, and Alfred Borden, played by Christian Bale.

The latter, who is responsible for the death of Julia (Anger’s wife), has indeed organized a revolutionary magic trick – the transported man – which allows him to inexplicably teleport from one end of the theater stage to the other. After first trying to sabotage his rival’s performances, Angier will do anything to solve the mystery of this incredible stunt, even using risky techniques to imitate it.

With an average rating of 4,267 stars out of 5 from AlloCiné viewers, The Prestige is far from Christopher Nolan’s most famous film, but it is especially appreciated by the director’s fans. Quite atypical of the latter’s career, this mystery-tinged period thriller nevertheless has a recurring character trait in the director’s work: his tendency to play with the audience and appropriate his subject even in its form.

Indeed, if Tenet is a palindrome, and if Inception’s ultimate plan is “the real Inception that Nolan performed on his audience, Prestige is nothing more than a magic trick. If you’ve seen the movie to the end, you’ll easily understand what it is. That’s about it, and if not, we I recommend that you do this before reading on.

Therefore, at the end of the film, Alfred Borden is wrongly accused of murdering Angier, who actually split himself up with Nikola Tesla’s machine before killing his clone. As he is about to be hanged and the executioner urges him to give his last words, Borden cryptically whispers, “Abracadabra.”

Meanwhile, while he’s in his warehouse, Ange meets a man…who is none other than Borden. Then the latter finally reveals to him the secret of his trick, the explanation of his presence before him, and the terrible sacrifice he had to make to carry out his project: he actually has a twin brother, identical to him in every respect. indicated and divided existence with him into two equal parts, in order that the transported man might be successful.

This strategy, which involves one of the two brothers constantly impersonating Fallon (Borden’s eccentric assistant) when he wasn’t open, unravels for the audience, as well as for Angier, all the mysteries Nolan has spread throughout the film.

It is impossible to guess the “trick” in advance! However, as you’ll realize when you watch the film a second time (including the seemingly innocuous scene with the canary), the answer was right in front of us from the start.

(Re)discover the hidden details of the film…